


Two Drums In A Grave

by joidianne4eva



Category: In the Flesh (TV)
Genre: M/M, Sentinel/Guide Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-20
Updated: 2014-07-20
Packaged: 2018-02-09 17:10:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1991010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joidianne4eva/pseuds/joidianne4eva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time that Simon heard the news he’d wanted to rage and scream because God forbid they be allowed the time to be thankful for the fact that Amy had somehow survived Maxine Martin’s attack.</p><p>Instead the world decided to throw this in his face like he hadn’t suffered enough…been degraded enough.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Drums In A Grave

**Author's Note:**

> This is unbeta'd because I've just watched all the episodes and I have all the feelings in the world for this pairing.

The first time that Simon heard the news he’d wanted to rage and scream because God forbid they be allowed the time to be thankful for the fact that Amy had somehow survived Maxine Martin’s attack.

Instead the world decided to throw _this_ in his face like he hadn’t suffered enough…been degraded enough.

“It’s not so bad, Simon,” Amy whispered, reaching out to free the newspaper that he’d crushed in his anger. “It’s not like they can force us to bond, right, Kieren?”

Simon didn’t have to look up to know that Kieren was probably nodding because what did either of them know about it? Amy was a Sentinel so of course she couldn’t be forced and Kieren, his beautiful Kieren didn’t seem to have a Guide or Sentinel cell in his entire body but Simon did.

He remembered when he’d manifested and his mother had taken him to the centre. He’d been thirteen and after being paraded in front of several Sentinels they’d let him come home where he’d hidden in his room and cried before scrubbing himself raw in the shower to get the stench of them off of his skin.

That night was the first time he’d drank alcohol and when that didn’t seem to make him untouchable enough, he turned to drugs.

He’d been honest when he told Kieren that he’d taken everything, he just hadn’t been as honest about why.

“Simon, they don’t have to know….” Kieren suggested after a moment of tense silence but Simon just snorted.

“They’ve known since I was thirteen,” he rebutted finally meeting Kieren’s eyes.

The First cocked his head as he stared at him. “Look, if you don’t want to bond nobody here is going to force you but could at least consider it? I know I’ve never said anything about it before but that’s just because you didn’t seem to want to….”

Simon glanced from Amy who was watching them with a gleeful smile, her free hand stroking Phillip’s hair while the man slept with his head in her lap, back to Kieren who was staring at him hopefully.

“I don’t….I think we’re having two completely different conversations,” he choked out finally. “I’m a Guide not a Sentinel so I don’t know what you’re on about. If they say they’ve found a match I have to bond with them, those are the rules….those have _always_ been the rules.”

“Fucking hell, what are you blathering on about now,” Phillip’s voice was muffled by the sheets that were draped over Amy’s legs but understandable nonetheless. “Kieren’s a Sentinel and you’re a Guide, just go sort your shit out, Jesus! A bloke can’t even rest after almost losing the love of his damn life.”

The besotted look that Amy settled on Phillip was completely overlooked by Simon who was staring at Kieren.

“You’re a Sentinel?” Simon whispered, his voice shaky in a way that it hadn’t been in years.

Kieren nodded and between one breath and the next Simon was out of his chair and out the door.

*O*

Kieren froze for a second then he was suddenly on his feet, the barrier that he kept up to protect himself from the outside world falling as he raced after Simon as Amy’s laughter rang out behind him.

The urge for a Guide to run was something that no one had to be taught. It was a documented phenomenon that appeared in every civilization, scientists couldn’t figure out what had caused it but the best they could figure it was a Guide’s way of ensuring that their Sentinel was able enough to keep up with them.

When Kieren had identified as a Sentinel he’d thought they’d made a mistake because he’d never felt anything other than ordinary. Yeah, he could see better than most people, could run faster was a bit stronger but he’d never felt like a sentinel until he woke in his own grave.

He felt even more like one now as he raced through the streets of Roarton.

Kieren had known that Simon was his the moment that they met because where Rick’s presence had been like a warm blanket around him, Simon’s was a roaring fire and Kieren had never wanted to burn so badly.

Ahead of him, Simon swerved to avoid a group of old ladies and Kieren laughed when the women screamed because he remembered a few of them wielding pitchforks just a week ago so they deserved to have the crap scared out of them.

Kieren shot across the road, leaping over the bonnet of a passing car without pausing because his body was made for this, was made to chase and claim and he should’ve known that Simon would run like the world was ending.

It wasn’t until Simon vaulted the cemetery gates that Kieren got serious because as fast as Simon was Kieren knew that seeing one of their kind tearing through a cemetery could make people trigger happy and that was the last thing he needed.

All it took was a single hesitation on Simon’s part and Kieren was barrelling into him, rolling Simon over so that he could taste the man’s laughter as he covered Simon’s lips with his own.

Beneath him Simon’s body jerked sporadically and Kieren knew that if they were still alive his face would be wet with tears.

“Calm, luv.” Kieren whispered as he pulled back just enough to let him see Simon’s eyes.

The other man was staring at him with something like awe and Kieren would do anything to keep that look on him because what he was seeing on Simon’s face was a mirror reflection of what he was feeling.

“Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for you?” Kieren asked, smiling softly when Simon shook his head even as his fingers tangled themselves in Kieren’s hair.

“I’d love to say that I was looking for you too but I was only looking for a way out,” Simon admitted, his voice rough and the hand in Kieren’s hair shook slightly.

“We’ve all got our scars,” Kieren told him, giving the words back to Simon. “I’m just sorry I didn’t look for longer.”

Simon smiled softly before glancing around. “I’m starting to feel like all the important parts of my life are going to happen in a cemetery,” he snorted and Kieren smirked as he stood, pulling Simon up with him.

“Not _all_ the important parts.”

The look that Simon shot him said that he’d received the message loud and clear.

*O*

Simon shuddered as Kieren pressed him against the bed. He could feel Kieren reaching out, his mind brushing against Simon’s and for the first time he didn’t feel the revulsion that usually came when he was pulled into someone else’s head.

Kieren wasn’t one of those vulture-like Sentinels in the centre and he was nothing like the cold, sterile minds of the doctors who’d never seen Simon as anything other than a means to an end.

Kieren’s mind was heat and home…wildness and calm, each force colliding with the other as they pulled Simon under even as Kieren pressed kisses to the corner of his lips.

“Still with me?”

Kieren’s voice sent chills racing up Simon’s spine and he arched upwards on instinct, sucking in a sharp breath when that only pressed his erection against Kieren’s in a way that had stars bursting behind his eyelids even as he nodded frantically.

It had never been like this before, not even when he’d been alive. Every time that someone had touched him Simon retreated, unable to deal with the soul deep dread that even the accidental brush of fingers brought. It was better after his rising but not even his own touch could bring him pleasure….and God knows he’d tried but Kieren’s touch did.

Every brush of Kieren’s lips against his skin made him writhe, every ghost of breath that neither of them needed made Simon want to beg for more and he did beg even though he knew that it wouldn’t make Kieren move any faster. The First had been adamant about bringing Simon pleasure and Simon didn’t know how to tell Kieren that any more pleasure would surely send him to his grave for a second time.

“You’re so…..” Kieren growled as he blanketed Simon’s body with his own, grinding down into the tiny thrusts that Simon couldn’t stop his hips from making. Simon waned to ask Kieren to say what he was going to say but he was too busy trying not to swallow his own tongue to even attempt it.

“You’re perfect, luv, fucking perfect and all mine.”

“Yours,” Simon agreed, his fingers slipping to Kieren’s shoulder, nails biting into the other man’s skin when Kieren’s fingers curled around his cock and Simon didn’t understand how he’d ever missed what Kieren was, how he hadn’t known? Kieren’s presence was like being in the eye of the storm, Simon felt safe and protected but he could feel the dangerous winds lingering just at the edge of Kieren’s mind, a barrier that protected Kieren, and now Simon, from the outside world.

A twist of Kieren’s wrist tore a moan from Simon’s throat quickly followed by a hoarse growl when Kieren nipped at his neck, so close to the bonding spot that Simon had always kept covered while he was living.

A part of Simon’s mind urged him to pull away, to shove the Sentinel off of him because this was too close for comfort but the rest of Simon was already shifting, pressing his head further into the pillow as he bared his neck.

Kieren’s breath caught for a second and he pulled back to stare down at Simon, who met his gaze steadily despite the fact that he was screaming inside because Kieren was the First. Kieren was more important than anything Simon had ever had and he wanted to hold him close, to keep him protected because the world was a dark, bitter place that Simon didn’t want Kieren to truly know.

Whatever Kieren saw on his face, felt through the tentative bond that was trying to anchor itself in their minds made him frown as he dipped down, lips brushing softly against Simon’s.

“You gonna let me in, Simon?”

The words were a soft breath between them but Simon could feel its importance in the rigid way that Kieren held himself above him because for Kieren it would be all or nothing. Simon could either put a stop to this or let Kieren see all the broken parts that made him into the man that he was now.

In the light of the afternoon Kieren’s eyes seemed to glow, and Simon felt like he was drowning in the sea of white with only that tiny pinprick of black to ground him.

Inhaling slowly, he pressed his hand to Kieren’s temple, ignoring the way his fingers shook as he let his barriers fall.

*O*

Kieren’s entire body lurched as Simon’s memories slammed into him like a tsunami but through it all he couldn’t help the feeling that he’d known Simon’s mind before and just when the reason for the familiarity hit him Simon’s memories dragged him under.

**_Simon was fourteen and so high that the centre couldn’t even hope to test his abilities and while his parents raged in the background Simon smiled because he’d rather be a useless, damaged guide than let any of these fuckers into his head._ **

**_Simon was sixteen and his father had kicked him out again. It wasn’t even the words that hurt it was the fact that when Simon reached out for his father there was nothing there. His father felt nothing for his son, as if Simon didn’t exist…like he wanted Simon to stop existing._ **

**_Simon was cold, so cold despite the clothes that the hospital provided them and he tried to tell the doctors but he couldn’t speak…so he taught himself to speak because he wouldn’t let himself be voiceless not when the only thing that he could feel was the fear of the others._ **

**_Simon shattered the mirror the first time he caught sight of his back. This was his failure, his moment of weakness emblazoned across his skin. It was his reminder to never be weak again._ **

**_Simon was afraid, so afraid that Kieren would see what he’d been willing to do for acceptance that he wouldn’t want him because how could Kieren want someone who was willing to kill him in the name of justice when Kieren had never done anything to anyone…Kieren hadn’t done anything but try to survive._ **

Kieren gasped as he was slammed back into his own head and for a moment he couldn’t move as he pressed his face against Simon’s.

He didn’t understand how one person could live with all of that, live through all of that and not hate the world but Simon didn’t hate the world no matter what he said, Simon was just afraid…of the living, of the prophet and of himself.

Pushing up, Kieren pressed a kiss to Simon’s ear, to the curve of his jaw, listening to the way that man’s breath shuddered from him. Simon’s skin was cold but his mind was an inferno that warmed Kieren in ways that he couldn’t describe with just words but he tried to show his thanks with each kiss. He paused as he tilted Simon’s head up only to devour his lips while Simon’s frightened eyes slid close.

Kieren licked at the tight press of Simon lips until the man exhaled and let him in and it didn’t even feel like a kiss anymore it felt like surrender.

“You’re perfect,” Kieren whispered as he pulled away so that he could lie at Simon’s side before tugging the larger man into his arms and the way that Simon all but collapsed onto him told Kieren that sex was the last thing that either of them needed right now. “What they did to you was on them and you might not believe that but believe this, you’re so much better than them…so much better than me….”

“Kieren…” Simon started but Kieren shook his head as he pressed a hand to Simon’s shoulder, holding him in place while his free hand gently brushed the edges of Simon’s scar.

“This proves that you are, it proves that you were willing to let them do horrible things to you because you wanted to be better and you are. You’re fucking perfect and don’t let me hear you thinking otherwise. Cause all that shit about being the First, it just means that I dug faster than all of you but you, you wanted your humanity so hard that you fucking fought for it…you let yourself suffer for it while I was running around acting like a twat,” Kieren laughed, but there wasn’t a hint of joy in the sound because the Sentinel in him wanted to hunt the doctors down and rip their fucking throats out in a way that had nothing to do with the residual hunger that still lingered even with the medication.

“You _are_ special,” Simon rebutted but his voice sounded sleepy and settled so Kieren didn’t argue with him.

“If I’m special then you’re the ninth wonder because I think you’re the one who made me wake up in the first place.”

Simon didn’t say anything but Kieren knew he’d heard him just like Kieren had heard Simon down there, while he’d been buried in his own grave.

Kieren wouldn’t ask Simon to talk about it but Kieren knew that Simon had heard him too.

 


End file.
